Wary
by Ayumu Foxtail-chan
Summary: It started with her throwing paper wads at the back of his head and ended with him agreeing to read a book. It was definitely one of the weirdest trips to the library that she'd ever had, although definitely not the worst. -GaLe one-shot!


**Hi there! I love GaLe (who doesn't?) so I'm challenging myself to write a one-shot for them. Never tried before. And so that's where this random/cute/silly thing came from. XD**

**Enjoy!**

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_**Wary**_

He was an idiot. A big idiot. A tall, gigantic, and gihi-ing idiot. And she sometimes felt as if she couldn't stand him; him and his jokes about her size, him and the fights he constantly got into, and most importantly him and his complete disregard for her existence.

Levy brought her legs up to her chest hastily, flipping through the pages in her book, all the while glaring at the back of his big stupid head. Her blood pressure was rising and her cheeks were growing hot. Because of anger or embarrassment, she wasn't sure. She was more than a little bashful about her love-hate relationship with him. Not that he knew that she felt that way. Heck, he didn't even know she was there half of the time. Even now.

Without any regard for the book she was reading she grabbed onto the page sloppily, ripping it from the binding and slamming her book closed. She had never torn a book before, but she would make an exception today. He was just so close; it was irresistible.

He sat there, at the next table over, his back facing her, and his attention focused on the book _he _was reading. She'd never seen him read a book before. And watching him slowly trace his finger across the lines of text was something that caused her to stop and stare in complete intrigue. On any normal day she'd have been elated to see the big lug read a book, but today, it made her angry.

Why was he reading that book anyway? What was it even about? And why was it more interesting than she was? She'd walked into the library after following him there; jogging after him and peeking around bookshelves, watching him slowly drag his fingers across the bindings until he found the one he was looking for. He then had made his way over to one of the tables, unceremoniously dropping into one of the chairs and cracking open the piece of literature without a glance at anyone else.

Making as much noise as she could without disrupting the other people there, she'd sat down at the table behind him. She'd hoped he'd look up and see her. She wished more than anything that she could talk about her love of novels with him. She wanted to share everything with him. But he hadn't ever expressed an interest in books before today. And even now, he didn't see her. No matter how many times she cleared her throat, how many times she scraped her chair on the floor, no matter what. He'd never see her. It was like she was invisible when it came to him.

Her breathing picked up its pace as she quickly ripped the sheet of paper into smaller pieces. Someone as small as she was shouldn't have been getting so worked up. She froze at the thought. Even her own mental notes were beginning to sound more and more like him.

She growled to herself, balling up one of the tiny scraps of paper and steadying herself. She held it between her index finger and thumb before taking aim, and flicking the ball of paper at the back of his stupid head. Its trajectory was perfect and it landed without a sound in his hair, nestling into the dark locks.

She bit her lip and sent herself a congratulations. She wasn't that bad of an aim.

He looked up from his book for a moment, and her breath hitched in her throat. She wanted him to notice her, but now that he was actually taking note of an annoyance behind him, flicking paper into his hair, she thought maybe she wouldn't want the attention. She let out a sigh when he shrugged to himself, focusing on the book again.

And that made her oddly angry. She took another scrap of paper, balling it up again. Screw getting caught by him, as long as he just acknowledged her presence she'd be satisfied. Even if he ended up yelling at her and asking her what the hell she thought she was doing.

She smiled to herself, lining up the shot again and squinting her left eye before flicking. Shot number two, perfect. It landed a little lower than the other one and stuck like glue.

He looked up again, his head turning to the right. Levy sunk a little lower in her chair, her heart pounding with nervous anticipation. She had no idea how he'd react, and she was within his plain sight now. She watched his eyes flick around the library, to his right, to his left; she knew he could see her out of the corner of his eye; it was just a matter of whether he _saw _her. And as he turned back to his book again, she realized he hadn't.

No matter where it was, the guild, on a job, or even in this library, he never saw her. She was there, right there, and yet he didn't notice it was her. Mavis, he made her angry.

She wasn't even sure why she wanted his attention so badly. Of course she knew at the present moment she wanted his attention so she could discuss books with him, mainly what one he was reading. But all the other times that he'd overlook her and she'd get frustrated because he never paid her any attention, she had no idea why. Why did she want him to notice her? Her mind trailed back to the love-hate relationship that she had thought about nearly nonstop when it came to Gajeel.

She hated him. The way he overlooked her just being the crowning blow to get her to notice exactly how much she loathed him. But she also liked him. Maybe she wanted his attention because she wanted to spend more time with him. Maybe, maybe not. And maybe she was frustrated that if he always overlooked her, a relationship would be impossible. That was a _big_ maybe in Levy's mind. Maybe they were more than partners, maybe they weren't. In her mind, anyway. In his she seemed to be almost like a little annoying dog that he'd learned to tune out.

With another angry grunt, Levy balled up three pieces of paper and hurled them all at the back of his head. Two stuck, one missed completely, flying past his face and onto the table next to his book. Her eyes widened, all of the angry and confusing thoughts coming to a halt. He was sure to notice now.

She watched, frozen to the spot as he turned his attention to the paper ball, picking it up gently and turning it over in his fingers. She sunk even lower in her chair as he reached behind his head with his other arm, patting around on his hair until he found the balls of parchment and slowly picked them out. Her eyes flicked to the door and she wondered if she could reach it before he turned around. Or maybe she could just slide out of her chair and camp out under the table until he was gone.

Gajeel whirled around in his seat before she had a chance to act on any of her plans, his eyes making contact with hers, a snarl on his face which quickly disappeared when he noticed who the culprit was. "Levy?" he grunted, looking down at the paper balls in his hand.

She knew he was contemplating if she had even thrown them, or if they'd been there all day and he'd just never realized it. No, of course he would think she couldn't do something like that. She slowly slid the untouched pieces of ripped paper off of the table without him realizing before sliding them into the wooden seat next to hers. She took his distraction as a chance to finally talk to him.

"Hey!" she waved, pretending that she hadn't noticed it was him sitting in front of her. "What're you doing here?" she asked, mentally banging her head against the wall as she slid out of her chair, grabbing her book and skipping over to his table, plopping down in the seat across from his. She was a terrible actress, and she knew it. She just hoped he was as dense about her acting abilities as he was about her actual presence.

He was.

"Oh, hi," he grunted, his face falling into what looked to her to be annoyance as she joined his table. "I thought you were still at the guild," he added, leaning back over the book, his arms covering almost the entire thing.

Levy frowned, "I come here every day," she said offhandedly, leaning forward and peering between his fingers at the text of the book he was now desperately trying to cover up. "What're ya reading?" she asked, trying to keep her tone light and friendly as she set down her book and cracked it open to the page she'd been on.

When she spied the remnants of the page she had torn out she quickly flipped to another page. She hoped he hadn't seen that. And more importantly, what was he doing? He looked like a kindergartener trying to cover up their test to keep others from cheating off of it. He struggled to cover the entire book with his arms without looking suspicious. He was failing.

"Uh, y'know, just a book," he said, chuckling dryly to himself.

She cocked an eyebrow and leaned forward again. The book from what she could see had a maroon colored cover. She quickly went through her knowledge of all the books in the library with that color of cover and found two. One was an incredibly cheesy romance novel she and Lucy had read together, squealing to each other, and the other was a larger textbook on the history of literature. She guessed the second. She sure hoped it was the second.

"History of Literature, eh?" she asked, her eyes sparkling. Was he really taking an interest in the written arts? Was she finally going to have some sort of topic that she could discuss with him? The possibility elated her.

Gajeel's eyes widened before he sat back with a 'hmph', uncovering the book and looking to her with disbelief. "How'd you know?"

Levy was usually proud of how many books she'd read, but when it came to him, she was rather sheepish. He'd think she was even more obsessed if she could deduct what a book was based on the color of the cover. "Oh, you know," she said, waving her hand in the air as if to clear it, "I've read it recently," she said. It wasn't a lie. But then again she'd read hundreds of books recently.

"Really?" he asked, reaching forward to close the book, and pausing. "Does it get any better?" he asked, looking down at the book with disgust.

Of course he wouldn't like a textbook like that. She plastered on a smile and shook her head. Oh Mavis, that just felt wrong. Telling someone that a book didn't get any better? That was one thing she'd never done before. It did get better, at least she thought so. But _he_ wouldn't think so. Of course he wouldn't.

Gajeel shrugged, closing the book with a slam and leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms and looking away from her.

She was blowing it! This was her chance to discuss books with him and here they were, Gajeel already bored. If she predicted right, he'd be making an excuse to leave soon, and she couldn't have that.

"So why'd you want to read that?" she asked, feigning near indifference. She had to act like she wasn't completely obsessed or she'd scare him off.

She watched his body go rigid, his eyes flicking around the room nervously. "Oh, no reason, someone just suggested it to me."

Well _that_ was a lie.

"Oh? Who?" she asked, trying to keep the tone of mocking out of her voice. She knew she'd caught him in a lie, but he couldn't know that.

"Umb, uh….," he stuttered, "Someone."

Levy rolled her eyes. Real descriptive, Gajeel. "Why did this mystery person recommend it to you?" she asked instead. It was a more pressing question in her mind anyway. If he said that somehow he'd been curious about something literature-related, that'd give her an opening to start her discussion on books.

Gajeel leaned forward on the table, opening the book again and flipping through it. He was trying to find something in that book that he could say he'd had a question about, she knew it. And after a while of flipping, his eyes getting wider and wider, undoubtedly because of the large words, he gave up.

"I was just kinda curious about books, y'know, after all you say about them. Figured maybe they were worth a second look," he said dismissively. She watched him as he intently gauged her reaction.

If she hadn't have been so excited that he was curious about books she would've blushed. Somehow her obsession with the things had rubbed off on him? She was kinda proud. She got the big metal head to walk into a library. It was a feat in and of itself.

"They're pretty great, aren't they?" she asked, her eyes alighting, "Although for someone like you, I'd recommend something other than… this," she said, flipping the book in front of Gajeel closed with her finger.

She noticed him relax a little and smiled. She almost felt like a teacher finding out that her one trouble child actually had an interest in learning. He was hesitant to admit that he was curious, and would be scared off easily if he was judged or poked fun at. But she wasn't going to tease him now, not when his curiosity was so new. Maybe she'd throw a joke or two in if and when he'd been reading for a while. Maybe if she waited, a joke thrown his way wouldn't scare him away from the prospect of reading.

"Well, what would ya recommend?" he asked hesitantly, his eyes flicking from her, to her book, and back again.

She looked down at her own novel and shook her head. "No, not something like this either," she said. She was currently trying to memorize the characters in an ancient language. Gajeel wouldn't be interested in anything along those lines. "I'd suggest you go on over to the fiction section and pick something out in the… either action section or science-fiction section," she said, motioning over to the shelves full of books behind Gajeel. Levy always called them 'boy books' because of all the senseless fighting and odd contraptions.

Gajeel nodded to himself, "Alright, any specific one?"

Levy shrugged, "I've only read a few, so no. Just pick out one you think looks interesting," she said, giving him a smile. She tried to look calm, tried to keep it together, but on the inside she was exploding. He was actually going to go get a book and sit down to read it. She never thought she'd see the day he did that. And she was having a hard time controlling her excitement. Maybe they'd become reading buddies. Maybe it'd be a new weekly tradition and maybe he'd stop overlooking her so much.

He glared down at the textbook he'd been reading, "I don't even know where I got this," he mumbled, scraping his chair backwards and standing up, grabbing the book and turning it over in his hands, his eyes sweeping the library.

"Non-fiction," she sighed, gesturing over her shoulder. "Reference section. Number seven in the series."

She didn't even have to look up to his face to tell he was still confused. In an attempt to keep his interest she stood up from her chair, grabbing the book out of his hands. "I'll put it up. Go find one over there that you like," she said, motioning back over to the fiction section.

"Really?" he asked, smirking down at her. "Thanks, Shrimp. I'm actually kinda excited," he said, shaking his head to himself as if he'd been as convinced as Levy had been that he'd never read another book in his life. Let alone get even a little excited about it.

Her eyes were the size of saucers. Had he just said he was excited? Excited about reading? And he wasn't kidding? This was the best day of her life! That big idiot that she somehow wanted to recognize her was actually excited about a book! She could see it now: they'd get together weekly, having a little book club of their own. He'd read and he'd learn how great books are. And then he'd progress to more complicated books, then real novels, then informative books, then textbooks then-

Unable to handle the excitement _she _felt because of her spiraling thoughts of the future, she squealed, jolting forward and crushing Gajeel in a hug. Well, what you could call a hug when she was a foot shorter than him with a textbook almost as big as she was in one arm. She hadn't thought about the consequences. And even as she squeezed the life out of the Dragon Slayer, her mind was _still _more focused on the fact that maybe the big idiot she cared about might take up an interest of hers, rather than that the big idiot she was hugging was more than a little surprised.

"That's so great, Gajeel!" she cried, her words muffled by his shirt. "I'm sure you'll love whatever book you pick out! Then we'll finally have something to talk about!"

Gajeel looked down at the top of her head, eyes wide, as she continued to hug him. He stayed frozen to the spot for what felt like hours to Levy, as her excitement was slowly replaced by mortification. Oh, she hadn't really just done that, had she? She wasn't really standing here, hugging him, was she? Oh god, she was. And she had just admitted that she wanted to talk about him with something. Not only that, but she'd also insinuated that she'd wanted something to talk about with him for some time now. But more importantly, she was hugging him. And he wasn't hugging her back. He hadn't even moved.

She would've let go and ended the awkward situation for both of their sakes if she wasn't so afraid of what his face would look like. She didn't want to witness his reaction, so she stayed glued to him in an attempt to avoid his gaze forever. Her thinking was sorely off.

"Uh, yeah, I'm sure I will," he said slowly. And then, something beyond her wildest dreams happened: he hugged her back. Well, what she would consider a hug. He warily wrapped one arm around her, awkwardly patting her on the back and grunting to himself. "A-and I'm sure we'll… talk about it," he added, his voice gruff. She could tell he was uncomfortable.

She took that as a pass to pull back. Surely if he'd kinda sorta maybe hugged her back, he wouldn't be angry. And when she pulled back, her eyes still mortified, she realized he wasn't. He just looked… nervous. Yes, that's what he looked like.

She wasn't sure what the expression on his face meant, and she didn't want to scare him off any more. So she quickly shook her head of the experience and smiled up at him as if nothing had happened. "Alright, go find one, then," she said, turning on her heel and skipping off into the reference section, ducking behind the shelf and out of his sight.

She slapped a hand to her mouth to keep from squealing aloud. That had really just happened. He'd not only in the last ten minutes expressed an interest in books, but she'd actually hugged him too, and he'd sorta hugged her back. Her heart was beating erratically and her stomach was full of butterflies as she turned around, peering over the books and out into the library where Gajeel was still glued to the spot, his head dipped as he held a hand to where her head had been.

She watched carefully as he patted the spot twice, before dropping his arm, his head looking up and glancing at other patrons in the library. And then, in an act that set Levy's heart on fire, he smiled. He smiled to himself, snorting once and shaking his head, turning to walk toward the fiction section with a pep in his step she hadn't seen before.

She hugged the textbook close to her chest. Maybe she wasn't as overlooked as she'd thought. And perhaps with a little work, he wouldn't be such a stubborn idiot either. But then again, that was a long shot.

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_Random adjective generated for the type of hug/kiss: Wary_

**There it is! Gajeel reading... it's never been seen before. And now I picture Gajeel as an old lady in a book club. 0.o **

**On that note I'll stop writing. XD**

**~Foxtail-chan**


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